JP3509815B2 - Printing system, image forming apparatus, and job management method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system for printing electronic image data on paper, and more particularly to a printing system having an image forming apparatus having both a printing function and a copying function as printing means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A digital copying machine (or digital color copying machine) is a combination of a reading mechanism that optically reads an image of a document to generate digital image data and a printing mechanism that prints the image data on paper. Can be understood as. In fact, a development method is often adopted in which the reading mechanism and the printing mechanism are separately developed and the two are combined to form a digital copying machine. The reading mechanism is IIT (Image Input Terminal) and the printing mechanism is IOT
Sometimes called (Image Output Terminal).

The printing mechanism of a digital copying machine is no different from a printer used as an output means of a computer in terms of the function of forming a semi-permanent image on a sheet based on digital image data. Therefore, a form of use has been born in which a digital copying machine is connected to a network or the like and used as a print engine. In such a usage mode, for example, as shown in FIG. 25, the digital copying machine 10 is connected to a network 30 such as a LAN (local area network) via a print server 20 as a print control device. The print server 20 has a spooler function that receives and schedules a print job output by a client device 40 such as a computer, and an imaging function that develops the print job into image data that can be processed by a digital copying machine. When the print server 20 supplies the image data obtained by expanding the print job to the digital copying machine,
The digital copying machine prints the image data on paper.

A series of processes performed to copy one original is called a copy job in comparison with a print job. A digital copying machine, which is also used as a printer, may have a mode as to which of a print job and a copy job is preferentially processed. For example, JP-A-5-3026
Japanese Patent No. 4 discloses a digital copying machine having two types of modes, a local mode for giving priority to a copy job and a remote mode for giving priority to a print job. This digital copying machine is connected to a module for print control called ESS (corresponding to a print server), and when a processing request for a print job comes from the ESS while operating in the local mode, the ESS enters a busy state. Returns a signal that represents.

Some digital copying machines incorporate a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk. This type of digital copying machine can store image data obtained by reading a document in its storage device, read the image data from the storage device, and print it. When the number of copies is two or more, this digital copying machine reads the original document only once when the first copy is made, and reads and prints the image data stored in the storage device for the second and subsequent copies. While printing the second and subsequent copies, only the printing mechanism of the digital copying machine operates and the reading mechanism is inactive. Many digital copiers of this type can use the idle time of such a reading mechanism to read only the next original document first. In such a digital copying machine, the setting information such as the number of copies and the enlargement / reduction ratio input from the operation panel is stored in association with the image data of each page of the read original, and the image data is printed later when the image data is printed. Refer to the setting information. That is, the content of the copy job is defined by the combination of such image data and setting information.

[0006]

Generally, a print server has a UI (user interface) that displays the status of a managed print job and accepts operations such as canceling the print job and changing the processing order. There is. On the other hand, even in a digital copying machine having a mass storage device,
Some have a UI that displays the status of a managed copy job and accepts operations such as canceling the job.
Conventionally, in a printing system including such a print server and a digital copying machine, information about a print job is managed by a print server and information about a copying job is managed by a digital copying machine. Therefore, the print server cannot know what kind of copy job is processed or accumulated in the digital copying machine. Similarly, the digital copying machine cannot know information such as what kind of print job is spooled in the print server.

Therefore, the user must look at the UI displays of both the print server and the digital copying machine in order to know how many print jobs or copying jobs are waiting for the printing process in the digital copying machine. There wasn't. Figure 25
In the above configuration, the digital copying machine 10 is directly connected to the print server 20 by a cable or the like, but a configuration may be considered in which the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20 are remotely connected via a network. . When such a configuration is adopted, the user cannot see the UI displays of the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20 which are located apart from each other at once.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in a printing system including an image forming apparatus (digital copying machine or the like) and a print control apparatus (print server or the like), a print job and a copy job can be performed. The purpose is to provide a mechanism for grasping the situation at once.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus and a print control apparatus.
A print system that accepts jobs individually collects the management information of the copy job of the image forming apparatus and the management information of the print job of the print controller, and the copy job and the print are printed by the image forming apparatus. Provided are job information aggregation means for generating integrated job management information of jobs, and job information display means for displaying a list of management information of copy jobs and print jobs based on the integrated job management information generated by the job information aggregation means. It was

In this configuration, the image forming apparatus manages copy job management information, and the print control apparatus manages print job management information. By integrating the separately managed information by the job management information aggregating unit, integrated job management information including management information of both the copy job and the print job is generated. Then, the job information display means displays a list of the management information of the copy job and the print job based on the integrated job management information. The user can know the statuses of the copy job managed by the image forming apparatus and the print job managed by the print control apparatus at that time by displaying the list on the job information display unit.

Further, the integrated job management information can be configured not only to be displayed on the printing device side but also to be sent to an external device (for example, a client device connected via a network). Thereby, for example, in response to a status inquiry from the external device, the integrated job management information can be provided to the external device, and the user can refer to the integrated job management information in the external device.

The above-mentioned job information collecting means, job information displaying means, and job information transmitting means may be provided in either one of the print control device and the image forming device, or in both. In addition to the print control device and the image forming device,
A computer having the functions of job information collecting means and job information displaying means or job information transmitting means is provided.
The computer may be connected to the print control apparatus and the image forming apparatus via a network or the like.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1. Overall Configuration FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the overall configuration of a printing system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the printing system includes a digital copying machine 10 and a print server 20. The digital copying machine 10 functions as a copying machine and also as a printing device that prints the print job output from the client device 40. Hereinafter, the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20 will be described in detail.

The digital copying machine 10 includes a control unit 11 and a UI.
(User interface) 12, print server I / F
(Interface) 13, IIT (Image Input Termin
al) 14, IPS (Image Processing system) 1
5, an IOT (Image Output Terminal) 16 and a storage device 17. The control unit 11 is a module for controlling the entire digital copying machine 10. UI1
Reference numeral 2 is a user interface for inputting an operation to the digital copying machine 10, and includes a display section 12a and an operation input section 12b. The display unit 12a can be configured as a liquid crystal display, for example. Further, the operation input unit 12b can be configured as various operation buttons. Further, the display unit 12a and the operation input unit 12b can be integrally configured as a so-called touch panel. The print server I / F 13 is the print server 20.
An interface module for communication with.
The IIT 14 is a mechanism for optically reading a document to be copied. The IPS 15 is a module that performs processing such as color tone correction and data compression on the image data of the document acquired by the IIT 14. The image data compressed by the IPS 15 is stored in the storage device 17 under the control of the control unit 11. When printing, the control unit 11
After extracting the compressed image data from the storage device 17 and decompressing the compressed image data by the IPS 15,
Supply to IOT16. The IOT 16 prints the received image data on paper. Since the storage device 17 needs to store a large number of original image data (the data size cannot be ignored even if compressed),
Large capacity is desirable. Considering the cost, for example, a hard disk device is suitable as the storage device 17.

The digital copying machine 10 temporarily stores the image of each page of the document read by the IIT 14 into the storage device 1.
7, and each image is read from the storage device 17 and supplied to the IOT 16 (ie, IOT1
6 to print). With such a configuration, the digital copying machine 10 reads the copy original by the IIT 14, and
The printing process by the IOT 16 can be executed independently.

Further, the digital copying machine 10 can hold and manage a plurality of copying jobs. That is, the digital copying machine 10 is, for example, an ADF (Auto Document Fe
eder: recognizes a group of pages collectively input to the IIT 14 by an automatic document feeder) as one copy job,
The image data group is managed for each job. The control unit 11
It manages which copy job each image stored in the storage device 17 corresponds to. In addition, the control unit 11 manages the copy attributes (sheet size, number of copies, enlargement / reduction ratio, etc.) input from the operation input unit 12b at the time of inputting each of these copy jobs in association with each job. The job management in the control unit 11 is basically FIFO (first-in first-out). That is, the control unit 11 sequentially puts the input copy jobs in a queue (queue), takes out the copy jobs in order from the head of the queue, and causes the IOT 16 to print the copy jobs.

Further, the digital copying machine 10 can receive a print job from the client device 40 via the print server 20 and print it by the IOT 16. With processing print jobs in this way,
In the digital copying machine 10, it is necessary to control the competition between the print processing of the copy job and the print processing of the print job.

That is, the print job from the client device 40 and the copy job from the digital copying machine 10 are both input at arbitrary timings.
Then, when the print server 20 receives the print job, the print server 20 immediately causes the digital copying machine 10 to print the print job. Therefore, a print job and a copy job may arrive at the digital copying machine 10 at almost the same time. In such a case, it is necessary to determine which of the copy job and the print job is processed first.

The digital copying machine 10 has a plurality of modes defined for such competition control. This competition control is executed by the control unit 11. The content of this competition control will be described later in detail.

The print server 20 includes a control unit 21 and a UI.
22, a client I / F 23, a storage device 24, an image processing unit 25, and a copying machine I / F 26. The control unit 21 is a module for controlling the print server 20 as a whole. The UI 22 is a user interface for inputting operations on the print server 20,
The display unit 22a and the operation input unit 22b are included. For example, the display unit 22a can be configured as a liquid crystal display or a CRT, and the operation input unit 22b can be configured as a general-purpose keyboard or a dedicated operation panel. The client I / F 23 is an interface module for communication via the network 30.
The print job output from the client device 40 is input to the print server 20 from the client I / F 23 via the network 30. The print job issued by the client device 40 may be a raster image or PDL (page description language) data such as PostScript (trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States) or PDF / TIFF (trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States). If the print job is PDL data, the IOT 16 of the digital copying machine 10 cannot print as it is. Therefore, the image processing unit 25 interprets the print job described in PDL and converts it into the image data format that can be processed by the IOT 16 of the digital copying machine 10. In this specification, “image data” refers to a data format that can be processed by the IOT 16 of the digital copying machine 10. The image data thus generated is stored in the storage device 24 and waits for the turn of the printing process.

The image processing section 25 also has a function of compressing image data. If the print job includes a compression saving instruction, the image data forming the print job is compressed by the image processing unit 25 and then stored in the storage device 24. When the compressed and saved image data is transmitted to the digital copying machine 10, the image processing unit 25 decompresses the data and restores the original image data.

In addition to the data representing the image to be printed, the client device 40 may send an instruction regarding the print content to the print server 20.
Such an instruction may be included in the description of the PDL, or may be sent as data different from the PDL according to the protocol defined between the client device 40 and the print server 20. Print server 20
Prints the contents of such a print instruction to the digital copying machine 10
Are stored in the storage device 24 in association with the image data. Then, when the printing order comes, the stored print instruction data is sent to the digital copying machine 10 together with the corresponding image data. The digital copying machine 10 sequentially supplies the received print instruction data and image data to the IOT 16 for print processing.

Here, the print instruction sent from the client device 40 includes an instruction regarding a printing method and attribute information of data to be printed. The printing method includes, for example, the size and type of the output paper, the designation of the paper feed tray and the paper discharge tray, the designation of enlargement / reduction, and the designation regarding the post-processing (position and number of stapling, presence / absence of binding processing, etc.). Is included. The designation regarding the post-processing can be made only when the digital copying machine 10 has a post-processing (stapling, punching, etc.) function. Further, the data attribute information includes, for example, the size and type of the print target data, the color attribute (color or monochrome), the owner name of the data, and the like.

Since the storage device 24 needs to temporarily store the data of the print job received from the client device 40 and the image data generated from the print job, it is preferable that the storage device 24 has a large capacity. A hard disk, for example, can be used as the storage device 24. The copying machine I / F 26 is an interface module for communicating with the digital copying machine 10. The digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20 are
The print server I / F 13 and the copying machine I / F 26 are connected to each other.

Upon receiving the print job described in the page description language from the client device 40, the print server 20 expands this print job into image data by the image processing unit 25 under the control of the control unit 21, and The image data is stored in the storage device 24. Control unit 21
Manages each image data stored in the storage device 24 in association with a print job identifier (job name or the like).
Then, the control unit 21 schedules the print order of each print job (basically the input order), and outputs the image data of each print job to the digital copying machine 10 according to the print order. That is, the control unit 21 sequentially queues the input print jobs,
The print jobs are sequentially taken out from the head of the queue and supplied to the digital copying machine 10. The print server 20
Has a function of changing the order of print jobs in the queue according to a user's instruction. This function will be described in detail later.

2. Basic Job Management Next, the control unit 11 of the digital copying machine 10 and the control unit 21 of the print server 20 will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 shows the control section 11 of the digital copying machine 10.
3 is a functional block diagram showing a detailed configuration of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 11 includes a copy job management unit 110, a mode management unit 114, an image output control unit 116, and an integrated job management unit 100. The copy job management unit 110
This is a module that manages the job of the copy job. When the copy job is input from the IIT 14, the copy job management unit 110 assigns an identifier to the copy job,
The image data of each page of the copy job is managed in association with the identifier. This identifier is called a job name here. In addition, the copy job management unit 110
Predetermined management information (that is, copy job management information 112) is created and managed for the managed copy jobs.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the copy job management information 112. As illustrated, the copy job management information 112 includes a job name for each copy job,
The status, owner, size, number of pages, and number of copies are registered. For example, the “status” is information indicating the current state of the job, that is, the state such as whether the job is being printed or what number of pages will be printed. The status “wait” in this example indicates that the job (“copy23”) is in the print processing waiting state. If the processing order is registered in the status, the job is printed according to the processing order indicated in the status. Also, "owner"
Indicates the identification name of the owner of the job. In the case of a copy job, owner information can be obtained from, for example, an ID card reader for charge management of the copying machine.
“Size” indicates the size (in bytes) of the image data of the job, “page number” indicates the number of pages of the document of the job, and “number of copies” indicates the number of copies of the document of the job.

Returning to FIG. 2, the mode management unit 114 is a module that manages modes relating to conflict control between print jobs and copy jobs. The mode management unit 114 receives a mode setting from a user or a system administrator and stores the value of the set mode. The mode setting value may be stored in the main memory of the digital copying machine 10 or in a non-volatile large-capacity storage device (for example, a hard disk device) attached to the digital copying machine 10. In the latter case, the power of the digital copying machine 10 is turned on.
The mode setting value can be retained even when the power is turned off. In the present embodiment, as the mode of this conflict control, a copy job priority mode, a print job priority mode, etc.
It defines two modes. The contents of these modes and the details of the contention control corresponding thereto will be described later in detail.

The image output control unit 116 includes a mode management unit 1
According to the mode set in 14, the competition control between the print job and the copy job is performed. That is, the image output control unit 1
16 selects one of the copy job at the head of the queue of the copy job management unit 110 and the print job input from the print server 20 according to the mode, and supplies the image data of the selected job to the IOT 16. To do.

The integrated job management unit 100 is one of the features of this embodiment, and integrated job management is performed for all jobs currently held by the printing system (that is, the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20). Is a means for doing. Details of the integrated job management unit 100 will be described later.

FIG. 4 shows the control unit 21 of the print server 20.
3 is a functional block diagram showing a detailed configuration of FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 21 includes a print job management unit 120 and an integrated job management unit 100. Print job management unit 120
Is a module that manages print jobs.
That is, the print job management unit 120 uses the client I
When a print job is input via / F23, the print job is passed to the image processing unit 25, and the image data generated by the image processing unit 25 is stored in the storage device 24. Then, the print job management unit 120 uses the storage device 24.
Each of the image data stored in is managed in association with the job name of the print job. In addition, the print job management unit 1
20 creates and manages management information (that is, print job management information 122) for each managed print job.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the print job management information 122. In this example, the print job management information 122 includes the aforementioned copy job management information (see FIG. 3).
For each print job, the job name, status,
The owner, size, number of pages, and number of copies are registered. The content of each item is the same as the copy job management information. In addition,
The "status" value "print" indicates that the job is currently being printed (on a digital copier) and is "1".
st "and" 2nd "indicate that they are the first and second print jobs waiting to be printed, respectively. The processing order values in the status of the print job management information 122 are only those between print jobs. Similarly, (although not shown in FIG. 3)
The value of the processing order in the status of the copy job management information 112 merely indicates the processing order between copy jobs. The value of the processing order is the actual digital copying machine 1
How the print output order of 0 is reflected depends on the mode of the digital copying machine 10.

Further, the control unit 21 controls the digital copying machine 10
Like the control unit 11 of FIG. 3, the print system includes an integrated job management unit 100 that provides integrated job management for all jobs currently held. The integrated job management unit 100 may be basically the same as that provided in the control unit 11.

3. Integrated Job Management Unit Next, the configuration and processing contents of the integrated job management unit 100 provided in the control units 11 and 21 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the integrated job management unit 100
Is a job information aggregation unit 200, a management information storage unit 210,
Job information display control unit 220, job operation input processing unit 2
30 and a job operation reflection processing unit 240. The job information aggregation unit 200 includes a copy job management unit 110 of the digital copying machine 10 and a print job management unit 1 of the print server 20.
20, the copy job management information 112 and the print job management information 122 are acquired, and these are integrated to create integrated job management information 212. The created integrated job management information 212 is stored in the management information storage unit 210. Further, the job information collecting unit 200 acquires the setting value of the mode regarding conflict control from the mode managing unit 114 of the digital copying machine 10. The acquired set value of the mode is stored in the management information storage unit 210 as the mode setting information 214. The management information collection processing by the job information collection unit 200 is executed when the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20 are activated, and thereafter, periodically or when an event occurs. Examples of the event that triggers the management information aggregation processing include, for example, completion of job processing by the digital copying machine 10 (and start of processing of a new job accordingly), input of a job operation instruction by a user (and accompanying this). Update integrated job management information).

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the integrated job management information 212. As shown in the figure, the integrated job management information 212 includes management information for both print jobs and copy jobs. Then, the integrated job management information 2
In addition to the information managed by the copy job management unit 110 and the print job management unit 120, 12
Information on the type of job (that is, either a copy job or a print job) is registered. The “status” in the integrated job management information 212 is not the “status” itself registered in the copy job management unit 110 or the print job management unit 120, but in all the jobs including the copy job and the print job. Is a value indicating the processing order of. Therefore, the job information collecting unit 2
00 is a copy job management unit 110 or a print job management unit 1
The processing order for the entire job is determined for each job based on the “status” registered in No. 20 and the mode of the digital copying machine 10 and registered in the integrated job management information 212.

The job information display control section 220 controls the display processing of the integrated job management information 212 and the mode setting information 214. The display information generated by the job information display control unit 220 is displayed on the display unit 22a of the print server 20 (or the display unit 12a of the digital copying machine 10). FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of display of integrated job management information on the display unit 22a. This example shows an example of display using the window system. In FIG. 8, in the display window 500, the integrated job management information display field 5 is displayed.
10 and a mode setting information display field 520 are provided. In the integrated job management information display field 510, based on the integrated job management information shown in FIG.
(Type), JOB name (job name), Status (status), Owner (owner), Size (size), Page (page count), and Copy (copy count) are displayed. By displaying the Type of each job, the user can know what kind of job currently exists in the printing system. Also, the display window 50
Reference numeral 0 denotes an operation button 53 for operating a job, which will be described later.
0 is displayed. In this way, by displaying the integrated job management information 212 and the mode setting information 214,
The user can see at one time the copy and print jobs that the printing system is currently processing (ie printing) or will be processing.

The job operation input processing section 230, for each job registered in the integrated job management information 212,
It is a module that receives an operation from a user. The target operations here are operations on a job-by-job basis, such as deleting, temporarily suspending, resuming jobs and changing the processing order. The job operation input processing unit 230 acquires an instruction for a job operation input from the operation input unit 22b of the print server 20 (or the operation input unit 12b of the digital copying machine 10). In the case of the window display as shown in FIG. 8, the user can instruct the operation content by pressing the desired operation button 530 with the mouse. In this case, the job to be operated can be specified by clicking the desired job in the display field 510. For example, if the print job “system diagram” is to be deleted, the display field 510 is displayed.
Click the "System Diagram" line in the and click the Delete button 53
Press 0-4. The move button 530-1 is a button for instructing to move the processing order of jobs.
Click a job to select it, and move button 530-
When 1 is pressed and the destination is clicked, the processing order of the job changes to the processing order of the destination. Stop button 530-
Reference numeral 3 is a button for instructing suspension of job processing. When you select a job and press the stop button 530-3,
Processing of the job is stopped. In this case, the status of the job is a value indicating a stopped state (for example, "sus
The job is in the stopped state when the job is queued for printing (or copying) at any time, but other succeeding jobs are processed first. If a stopped job is selected and the restart button 530-2 is pressed, the processing of the job is restarted.

The job operation input processing section 230 changes the integrated job management information (particularly the status) according to the operation instruction of the user acquired via the operation input section 22b (or 12b). For example, if a job having an operation instruction is deleted, the job is integrated into the integrated job management information 2
Then, the status of other jobs is adjusted. Further, the job operation input processing unit 230 transmits the operation instruction to the job operation reflection processing unit 240.

The job operation reflection processing section 240 performs processing for reflecting the content of the operation instruction on the copy job management information 112 of the copy job management section 110 and the print job management information 122 of the print job management section 120. For example, if a print job with operation instructions was deleted,
The job operation reflection processing unit 240 includes a print job management unit 12
Instruct 0 to delete the job. As a result, the print job is discarded and the print job management information 122 is updated. Similarly, when an operation instruction for a copy job is input, the operation instruction is input to the copy job management unit 110.
When an operation instruction is sent to both the print job and the copy job, the operation instruction is sent to both the print job management unit 120 and the copy job management unit 110. Through such processing, the user's operation instruction made with reference to the integrated job management information list display (see FIG. 8) is reflected in the print job management unit 120 and the copy job management unit 110.

As described above, in this embodiment, the job operation input processing section 230 and the job operation reflection processing section 240 are provided, so that the user operates the job in cooperation with the list display of the integrated job management information. It can be input and reflected in the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20.

4. Modes Related to Contention Control Next, modes for contention control between a copy job and a print job will be described. In the system of this embodiment, five types of modes are specified. 1 below
Explain each one.

(1) Copy job priority mode 1 This mode is a mode in which copy jobs are always given priority. No print jobs are processed while in this mode. In this case, the print job is held in the print server 20 and enters a standby state (status "wait"). That is, in this mode, as shown in FIG. 9, it is determined whether or not there is a copy job (S11), if it exists, the copy job is printed (S12), and if it does not exist, print processing is performed. Absent.

(2) Copy job priority mode 2 In this mode, the copy job is prioritized only when the copy job and the print job conflict with each other. Therefore, when the digital copying machine 10 does not have a copy job, the print job is printed. In this mode, if a copy job is input while the digital copying machine 10 prints the print job, the copy job is processed after the completion of the processing of the print job. That is, in this mode, as shown in FIG.
First, it is determined whether a copy job exists (S21), and if it exists, the copy job is executed (S22). And
Only when there is no copy job, it is determined whether a print job exists (S23), and if it exists, the print job is processed (S24).

(3) Print Job Priority Mode 1 In this mode, print jobs are always prioritized. No copy jobs are processed while in this mode. In this case, the copy job is held in the digital copying machine 10 and is in a standby state. That is, in this mode, as shown in FIG. 11, it is determined whether or not a print job exists (S31), the print job is processed if it exists (S32), and the print job is executed if it does not exist. Absent.

(4) Print job priority mode 2 This mode is a mode in which the print job is prioritized only when the copy job and the print job conflict with each other. Therefore, when there are no print jobs, the copy job is processed. In this mode, if a print job is input while the digital copying machine 10 prints the copy job, the print job is processed after the completion of the processing of the copy job. That is, in this mode, as shown in FIG. 12, it is first determined whether a print job exists (S41), and if it exists, the print job is executed (S42). Then, only when there is no print job, it is determined whether or not there is a copy job (S43), and if so, the print job is processed (S44).

(5) Non-priority mode In this mode, the copy job and the print job are treated equally. That is, the copy job and the print job are sequentially processed according to the order of reception.

In this mode, for example, as shown in FIG. 13, it is determined whether or not a copy job exists (S5).
1). If the copy job does not exist, it is determined whether or not the print job exists (S52). If the print job exists, the print job is executed (S55). When a copy job exists in S51, it is determined whether or not a print job exists (S53). If the print job does not exist, it means that only the copy job exists. Therefore, the copy job is executed (S56).
When the copy job exists in S53, both the print job and the copy job exist. In this case, it is determined which of the copy job and the print job was accepted by the system first (S54). As a result of this determination, if the print job is first, the print job is executed (S55), and if the copy job is first, the copy job is executed (S56). In this system, in order to realize the non-priority mode, the time when the job is accepted is managed as the management information of each job.

The competition control modes defined in this embodiment have been described above. This mode is managed by the mode management unit 114 of the digital copying machine 10. The processing order of the copy job and the print job changes depending on the mode of the digital copying machine 10. That is, although the copy job management unit 110 manages the processing order of each copy job and the print job management unit 120 manages the processing order of each print job, the processing of the entire job including the copy job and the print job is managed. The order is decided only when the mode is decided. Therefore, the integrated job management unit 100 refers to the setting value of this mode when collecting the management information of the print job and the copy job, and determines the status regarding the processing order of each job. For example, since the copy job is not processed when the printing system is in the print job priority mode 1, the status of the copy job is determined to be "wait". Also, when the system is in the non-priority mode, the integrated job management unit 100
Determines the processing order of each job based on the reception time.
In this way, the status regarding the processing order in the entire job is determined, and by displaying this status in a list, the user processes the jobs currently held in the printing system in what order. You can know

The mode can be changed according to a user's instruction. This mode change instruction can be issued, for example, on the list display (see FIG. 8) generated by the integrated job management unit 100. That is, the mode can be changed by selecting the mode from the pull-down menu attached to the mode display field 520 and pressing the setting button 530-5. This mode change instruction is
The digital copying machine 1 via the job operation reflection processing unit 240
The value 0 is transmitted to the mode management unit 114 and the mode setting value held therein is changed.

The following method can be considered as a method for dynamically controlling this mode.

First, there is a method in which a default value of the mode is determined and the mode is returned to the default value when neither a print job nor a copy job is input for a predetermined time.

Secondly, when the integrated job management unit 100 monitors a change in integrated job management information and detects that a job in which the same mode continues is waiting for a predetermined time or longer, In this method, the integrated job management unit 100 changes the mode setting so that the job is printed. According to this method, when the mode in which only one type of job is processed continues for a long time, it is possible to process the other type of job that was in the processing waiting state during that time.

5. Display Example of Integrated Job Management Information Next, a modified example of the list display of job statuses generated in the integrated job management unit 100 will be described. Figure 14
It is a figure which shows the modification of this display. In this example, the display items are limited as compared with the above example (FIG. 8). That is, in this example, basic information about the status of the job,
That is, the job type (type), ID (identifier),
Only Status (status) is displayed. Ty
pe and Status are the same items as in the example of FIG.
The ID is an identification number for distinguishing the job from other jobs, and corresponds to the job name in the example of FIG. As described above, the information on the job type, the identifier, and the status regarding the processing order is information necessary for the user to perform an operation regarding the processing order of the job. When the display items are limited and displayed as described above, in the management information aggregation processing by the job information aggregation unit 200, only the information corresponding to the display items is aggregated, and the integrated job including only the limited items is displayed. It is also possible to generate management information. Also,
Information on all items of the management information may be registered in the integrated job management information, and only the display items may be restricted. In the display of FIG. 14, the job name given by the user may be displayed instead of the ID. In FIG. 14, the type of job is one of the display items (Ty
However, the method of displaying the type of job is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, the copy job is displayed normally and the print job is displayed in reverse video. For example, the two can be distinguished by changing the display form depending on the type of the job. Besides this,
It is also possible to use a method in which one of the print job and the copy job is displayed by hatching or shade (shaded), or the display color is made different between the print job and the copy job. The display form for distinguishing between the print job and the copy job may be selected appropriately depending on the function of the hardware used (whether color display or halftone display is possible).

When the display example of FIG. 14 and the display example of FIG. 8 are compared, the example of FIG. 8 has more display contents, which is convenient for the user. For example, by displaying the owner, the user can know what his or her job is, and thus it is possible to reduce the possibility of accidentally performing an operation on another person's job. The information on the size, the number of pages, and the number of copies can be used to estimate the time required for printing each job. The user can refer to such information to infer how much later he / she must wait before his job is processed. Therefore, the user only has to go to the digital copying machine 10 for the print result at the estimated time, and does not need to wait for the print result near the digital copying machine all the time. Further, the user can make a judgment such as whether to advance the processing order of his or her job or cancel his or her job based on the estimation.

Further, the display items of the integrated job management information can be increased or decreased according to the user's designation. FIG. 16 shows a display example in this case. In this display example, a display content button 530-6 for changing the display item is displayed in the display window 500. When the display content button 530-6 is pressed, the display option window 540 is opened. This window 540
Shows a list of items registered in the integrated job management information 212. Whether or not to display the item can be set depending on whether or not the check box placed adjacent to each item is checked. The job information display control unit 220 selects only necessary display items from the integrated job management information 212 according to this setting,
indicate.

6. Job Operation Based on Display of Integrated Job Management Information Next, some specific examples of job operations using the list display of integrated job management information will be described. Below, it demonstrates using the display example of FIG.

(1) Stopping a Job A job stop instruction is given by selecting a job to be stopped with a mouse or the like and pressing a stop button 530-3. The status of the stopped job is stopped. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a display example of integrated job management information when a job stop instruction is given. In this example, I
The case where the print job of the D number 33 is stopped is shown. A mark (s
(uspend) is displayed. The job in the stopped state is overtaken by the succeeding job until the stopped state is released. That is, in FIG. 17, at the time of (a),
The job of ID33 is in the stopped state with the processing rank of second place, but when the processing of the job of ID31 is finished, the processing rank is advanced by one as shown in (b) to become the first rank. If the stopped state is released at this point, the job of ID33 will be processed next. However, if the stopped state of the job of ID33 is not yet released at the time when the processing of the job of ID32 is completed, as shown in (c), ID3
The job of No. 3 is kept in the first processing order, and the next ID 3
Job No. 4 is processed first. Note that the job stop state can be released by pressing the resume button 530-2.

(2) Canceling a Job A job can be deleted by selecting the job to be deleted and pressing the delete button 530-4.
When a job deletion instruction is given, a confirmation display as shown in FIG. 18 is displayed to prompt the user for confirmation, so that cancellation of a job due to an erroneous operation can be prevented.

(3) Moving the job processing order The job processing order is moved by selecting the job whose order is to be moved with the mouse or the like, pressing the move button 530-1 and selecting the move destination. be able to. The jobs whose processing order can be changed differ depending on the mode of conflict control.

For example, FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining the flow of movement of the processing order of jobs in the non-priority mode. In the non-priority mode, the order of all jobs can be basically moved (that is, unless the operation authority is restricted). In the example of FIG. 19, first, the job (I
By pressing the mouse button on the line of D32), the job is selected as the movement target,
It is highlighted as shown in (a). Next, as shown in (b), the cursor is moved onto the move button 530-1 and the mouse button is pressed. Then, the line of the job (ID32) selected as the transfer target is displayed in a blinking manner (indicated by being surrounded by a broken line in FIG. 19) to clearly indicate that the job is the transfer target. Next, when the cursor is moved, the line at the cursor is highlighted. Then, as shown in (c), the cursor is moved to a desired destination line (in this example, the line of the job of ID33) and the mouse button is pressed to confirm the destination. As a result,
As shown in (d), the processing order of the job of ID32 is I
It is changed after the job of D33. Note that, in this example, the processing order of the job to be moved is moved next to the job selected as the move destination. However, in addition to this, the order of the job to be moved and the job to be moved can be exchanged. A method may be adopted. Further, cancellation of the operation for the job may be instructed, for example, by pressing a specific mouse button. For example, a method of pressing a left mouse button is used to instruct a job selection or an operation, and a right button is pressed to cancel them.

In the modes other than the non-priority mode, the job to be moved and the selection range of the movement destination are limited. For example, in the print job priority mode 1 and the print job priority mode 2, the print job processing order cannot be moved after the copy job, and the copy job processing order can be moved before a certain print job. No (more strictly speaking, such movement of processing order is meaningless in the definition of those modes). Other than this limitation, the job processing order can be moved in the same procedure as in the non-priority mode. If you want to do this, you can change modes. Print job priority mode 1
In the case of the print job priority mode 2, the most significant thing is to change the order between print jobs, but it is also possible to allow the order to be changed between copy jobs. In such a case, it is also preferable that an inappropriate line as a destination (a line of a copy job when moving a print job) is not displayed in reverse video or cannot be selected by clicking. In the case of the copy job priority mode 1 and the copy job priority mode 2, on the contrary, the processing order of the copy job is moved after the print job, and the processing order of the print job is moved before the copy job. I can't do that.

(4) Interlocking control of movement of job processing order and mode change In the previous section, it was explained that the selection range of jobs to which the processing order can be moved and the destination of the movement can be restricted depending on the mode of conflict control. Here, a method for reducing the operational burden on the user when moving outside the permitted range will be described.

In the case of making a movement outside the permitted range,
It has already been mentioned that a mode change is required. However, after confirming that the job cannot be moved, it is determined which mode should be changed to achieve the desired movement, and the set value of the mode is changed according to this determination. It may be a burden. Therefore, in this embodiment, considering this point,
When the movement outside the permitted range is instructed, the integrated job management unit 100 suggests a mode change to an appropriate mode to the user, and when the user's consent is obtained, the integrated job management unit 100 automatically The method of changing the mode to an appropriate mode was adopted.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of a job moving operation when this method is adopted.
First, as shown in (a), print job priority mode 1
It is assumed that the user selects the print job (ID 32) as the movement target in the mode (that is, the mode in which no copy job is processed). And in this case, the user
It is assumed that the move button is pressed as shown in (b) and the copy job (ID23) is selected as the move destination. Such movement processing is not permitted in the print job priority mode 1. Therefore, the integrated job management unit 100 may select the non-priority mode as a mode in which such movement processing is possible, and change the mode from the print priority mode 1 to the non-priority mode, as shown in (c). A window 550 for inquiring whether or not is displayed. When the user presses the Yes button in response to the inquiry on this window 550, the mode is changed to the non-priority mode as shown in (d), and the processing order of the print job of ID32 is I.
It is changed after the copy job of D23. In addition, when the user answers No to the inquiry on the window 550, the instruction of the moving operation is canceled.

(5) If the operation of the security job is permitted indefinitely, the job may be deleted by another person without the owner's understanding of the job, or the processing order of the job may be arbitrarily changed by another person. There is. Further, when jobs of a plurality of users are present in the printing system, if one user changes the mode of conflict control for his own convenience, it may cause trouble to other users. In order to solve such a problem, it is possible to limit the range of operations that the user can perform.

Specifically, for example, there is a method of classifying users into two types: general users and privileged users such as system administrators. In this case, the general user is allowed only to perform operations such as deleting or stopping his / her own job, moving back the order of his / her job, etc. within a range that does not disturb other users. All operations including changes are permitted. In order to confirm the identity of each user, a password may be set in advance for each user, and the system side may request the user to enter the password when an operation instruction is given.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above. In the embodiment described above, the integrated job management unit 100 is provided in both the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the case where the integrated job management unit 100 is provided in either the digital copying machine 10 or the print server 20 is also included in the scope of the present invention. Even in such a case, it is possible for the user to grasp the status of the copy job and the print job at a glance.

Also, for a network configuration in which the digital copying machine 10 is directly connected to the network and communicates with the print server 20 via the network,
The present invention can be applied.

Further, instead of providing the integrated job management unit in both or one of the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20, the function of the integrated job management unit may be installed in one of the computers connected to the network. FIG. 21 shows an example of such a system configuration. That is, FIG.
Then, for the network 30 to which the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20 are connected, the integrated job management unit 5
A job management computer 50 in which No. 2 is installed is connected. The integrated job management unit 52 may have the same configuration and function as the integrated job management unit 100 described above. In this case, the integrated job management unit 52 communicates with the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20 via the network 30, and the copy job management unit 110 and the print job management unit 12 are communicated.
The management information is aggregated from 0, and the operation input by the user on the job management computer 50 is reflected in the management information of the copy job management unit 110 and the print job management unit 120. In order to realize this configuration,
The copy job management unit 110 and the print job management unit 120 are provided with interfaces for exchanging information with the integrated job management unit 52.

Further, the client device can display the integrated job management information and can accept the operation for the job. To this end, for example, as shown in FIG. 22, the client communication unit 1 is added to the print server 20.
30 is provided, and the job operation UI 4 is provided on the client device 40.
2 should be provided. The client communication unit 130 has a function of transmitting the integrated job management information held in the integrated job management unit 100 to the client device 40, and an operation instruction from the client device 40, and receives the operation instruction. It has a function to tell The job operation UI 42 generates a job list display based on the integrated job management information received from the print server 20 and sends an operation instruction from the user input based on the list display to the print server 20.

Further, in the above embodiment, the display example using the window system is shown as the job list display. Therefore, a display example in the case where the display device provided in the print server or the digital copying machine is a device such as a character display that cannot display a window will be described below. FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a display example in such a case. In the example of FIG. 23, the command A is a command requesting the display of integrated job management information. When the user inputs this command, the integrated job management information B is displayed. Command C sends the job with ID 32 to I
It is a command to move to the back of the job of D33. When this command is input and then the command for displaying integrated job management information is input, it can be seen that the job processing order has been changed. The command D is a command for requesting the display of the setting value of the mode of competition control. In response to this command, the set value E of the mode is displayed. The command F is a command for instructing to stop the job of ID32. The command G is a command for instructing the deletion of the job of ID32. As described above, the method of this embodiment can be applied to an apparatus using a character display.

The configuration of the present embodiment described above can be realized by causing a computer system to execute a program describing each function of the integrated job management unit 100 described above. This program is provided to the user in the form of being written in a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (compact disk-read only memory) or a floppy (registered trademark) disk. For example, as shown in FIG. 24, when the user causes the CD-ROM drive 310 of the computer 300 to read the CD-ROM 350 in which the program is written, the program is installed in the hard disk device 320 and is in an executable state. Become. The program is loaded onto the main memory 340 under the control of the operating system and is executed by the processor 330, whereby the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized. The computer 300 mentioned here includes the digital copying machine 10 and the print server 20.

[0075]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The status of the copy job managed by the image forming apparatus and the print job managed by the print control apparatus at that time can be known at once by the list display of the job information display means.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a control unit of the digital copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of copy job management information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a control unit of the print server.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of print job management information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of an integrated job management unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of integrated job management information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a list display of job statuses by a job information display unit.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of job conflict control in copy job priority mode 1.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of job conflict control in copy job priority mode 2.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of job conflict control in print job priority mode 1.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of job conflict control in print job priority mode 2.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the flow of job conflict control in the non-priority mode.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing another example of a list display of job statuses.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing another example of a job status list display.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating another example of a list display of job statuses.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a stopped state of a job.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a confirmation display for deleting a job.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining a procedure of moving a job processing order.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining a mode changing process that is linked to the movement of the job processing order.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration in which an integrated job management unit is mounted on a computer that is neither a digital copying machine nor a print server.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration for displaying a list of job statuses and operating jobs on the client device 40.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a list display of job statuses on a character display.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a configuration of a computer in which the embodiment is implemented.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a printing system using a digital copying machine as a printing unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 digital copying machine 11,21 control section 12,2
2 UI (user interface), 12a, 22a
Display unit, 12b, 22b Operation input unit, 13 Print server I / F, 14 IIT, 15 IPS, 16 IO
T, 17, 24 Storage device, 20 Print server, 2
3 client I / F, 25 image processing unit, 26 copier I / F, 30 network, 40 client device, 100 integrated job management unit, 110 copy job management unit, 112 copy job management information, 114 mode management unit, 116 images Output control unit, 120 print job management unit, 122 print job management information, 200 job information aggregation unit, 210 management information storage unit, 212 integrated job management information, 214 mode setting information, 220 job information display control unit, 230 job operation input Processing unit, 24
0 Job operation reflection processing unit.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-7-234768 (JP, A) JP-A-8-18706 (JP, A) JP-A-8-307583 (JP, A) JP-A-10-312251 (JP , A) JP-A-11-150559 (JP, A) Patent 3405159 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/12 B41J 29/00 H04N 1/00

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing system for printing electronic image data on paper, a copy function for printing image data obtained by scanning an original, and a print function for printing input image data on paper. And an image forming apparatus that stores image data of a document read by the copy function as a copy job and generates management information including a processing order for the stored copy job, and a print job given from the client apparatus. Accumulate,
A print control device that generates management information including a processing order for the stored print jobs, expands the stored print jobs into image data, and inputs the image data to the image forming device; and the image forming device and the print controlling device. Is that
In a printing system that accepts jobs individually, a copy job printed by the image forming apparatus by consolidating management information of the copy job of the image forming apparatus and management information of the print job of the print control apparatus And job information aggregating means for generating integrated job management information of the print job, and displaying the management information of the copy job and the print job on the basis of the integrated job management information generated by the job information aggregating means, or to an external device. A printing system comprising: a job information notifying unit for transmitting. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the job information aggregating unit is based on the aggregated copy job management information and print job management information, and print processing order in the image forming apparatus for each job. The status of each job that has been determined is held in the integrated job management information, and the job information notifying unit is configured to display the status of each job in the display based on the status of each job determined by the job information collecting unit. A printing system, which displays in a display form in which the processing order of jobs in the image forming apparatus can be identified. 3. A copy function of printing image data obtained by reading an original on a sheet and a print function of printing image data of a print job input from a print control device on the sheet, and the copy function. An image forming apparatus for accumulating image data of a read original as a copy job, and generating management information including a processing order for the accumulated copy job, wherein management information of a print job managed by the print control apparatus is acquired, Job information aggregating means for aggregating the management information of the print job with the management information of the copy job to generate integrated job management information of the copy job and the print job targeted by the image forming apparatus, and Display management information for copy jobs and print jobs based on the integrated job management information generated by the job information aggregator. An image forming apparatus comprising: a job information notifying unit which indicates or transmits to an external device. 4. An acquisition unit for acquiring management information including a processing order of a copy job from an image forming apparatus having a copy function of printing image data obtained by reading a document as a copy job on a sheet, and a client apparatus. Stored print jobs,
Generating means for generating management information including the processing order of the accumulated print jobs, management information acquired by the acquiring means, and management information generated by the generating means are integrated to form a copy job and a print job. And a job information notifying unit for displaying the integrated job management information generated by the job information collecting unit or transmitting the integrated job management information to an external device. 5. A copy function of printing image data obtained by reading a document on a sheet and a print function of printing input image data on a sheet, and image data of the document read by the copy function. An image forming apparatus that accumulates as a copy job, generates management information including a processing order for the accumulated copy job, and accumulates a print job given from a client apparatus,
The accumulated print job generates management information including the processing order, the accumulation print job is developed into image data, seen including a print control apparatus, the input to the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus and the print control The device is it
A job management method in a printing system for accepting jobs individually , wherein the management information of a copy job of the image forming apparatus and the management information of a print job of the print control apparatus are aggregated to obtain the image forming apparatus. A job information collecting step of generating integrated job management information of the copy job and the print job to be printed by, and displaying management information of the copy job and the print job based on the integrated job management information generated by the job information collecting means. Or a job information notifying step of transmitting the job information to an external device. 6. A copying function of printing image data obtained by reading an original on a sheet of paper and a printing function of printing image data of a print job input from a print control device on the sheet of paper. A job management method for an image forming apparatus, wherein image data of a read original is accumulated as a copy job, and management information including a processing order is generated for the accumulated copy job, the management information of a print job managed by the print control apparatus. And a step of generating integrated job management information of the copy job and the print job to be printed by the image forming apparatus by aggregating the management information of the print job with the management information of the copy job. Based on the integrated job management information generated by the job information aggregating means, Job management method comprising the steps of transmitting to display the management information of the print job, or to an external device. 7. A job management method in a print control apparatus, comprising: an image forming apparatus having a copying function of printing image data obtained by reading a document on a sheet as a copy job,
An acquisition step for acquiring management information including the processing order of copy jobs, and accumulating print jobs given from the client device,
A generation step of generating management information including the processing order of the accumulated print jobs, the management information acquired in the acquisition step, and the management information generated in the generation step are aggregated to form a copy job and a print job. And a job information notifying step of displaying the integrated job management information generated in the job information collecting step or transmitting the integrated job management information to an external device. 8. A copy function for printing image data obtained by reading an original on a sheet and a print function for printing input image data on a sheet, and image data of the original read by the copy function. An image forming apparatus that accumulates as a copy job, generates management information including a processing order for the accumulated copy job, and accumulates a print job given from a client apparatus,
The accumulated print job generates management information including the processing order, accumulated print jobs to expand the image data, the print control apparatus and the unrealized the image forming apparatus and the print control apparatus to be input to the image forming apparatus Is that
It is a computer included in a printing system, which accepts a job individually, aggregates the management information of the print job management information and the print control apparatus of a copying job by the image forming apparatus has has, printed by the image forming apparatus A job information collecting step of generating integrated job management information of the copy job and the print job, and displaying the management information of the copy job and the print job based on the integrated job management information generated by the job information collecting means, A computer-readable recording medium in which a job information notification step to be transmitted to an external device and a program for executing the step are recorded. 9. Processing between a copy job and a print job
Has multiple types of mode priority order settings
The selected mode and the image forming apparatus for each copy job.
Acceptance time and the print control device for each print job.
On the image forming apparatus based on the reception time and
Determine the status related to the print processing sequence of each job
Further comprising a mode managing means , wherein the job information collecting means is determined by the mode managing means.
Status of the print processing order of each job
The printing system according to claim 1 , wherein the integrated job management information including the information of (1) is generated . 10. A process between a copy job and a print job.
It has multiple types of modes for logical
Specified mode and the image forming device for each copy job
In the print control device for each print job
On the basis of the reception time at the image forming apparatus.
Determine the status related to the print processing order of each job
Further comprising a mode managing means for executing the job information collecting means , wherein the job information collecting means is determined by the mode managing means.
Status of the print processing order of each job
4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the integrated job management information including the information of [4] is generated . 11. A process between a copy job and a print job.
It has multiple types of modes for logical
Specified mode and the image forming device for each copy job
In the print control device for each print job
On the basis of the reception time at the image forming apparatus.
Determine the status related to the print processing order of each job
Further comprising a mode managing means for executing the job information collecting means , wherein the job information collecting means is determined by the mode managing means.
Status of the print processing order of each job
The print control apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein integrated job management information including the information of (1) is generated .